4 communication styles in meetings
Video Transcript
Hi, Dan here. How many times have you been in a meeting when people just don't seem to be communicating? It may be because they're bringing four different communication styles to the meeting. Let's go through them.
The “D” style, that's the direct person, right? Characterized by: fast talker, fast thinker, and facts-oriented, these are the kind of people who want to have the agenda in advance so they can get through it as efficiently as possible. They are results driven, which is why when they call out problems some people might think: “Why is he being such a jerk? When in fact the D Style person isn’t thinking that way at all. They just want to call out the problems so they can get through them to the best possible solution.
Then we have the “i” or influence style communicators. These are the people who are fast talking and fast thinking but they are very people focused. They actually may not care as much about the agenda. Why? They know that when they get in there they're going to bounce ideas off of each other. This is how they do their best thinking, by collaboration. They’re very in the moment.
Then we have the “S” or steady style. These people are characterized by being very people focused but also cautious. These are the kind of people that are really inclusive…They may say,”have you heard from Jane yet?…is Tawana on board with this?...Let’s talk to them before we move forward.” You might think that they’re slowing things down, but they make decisions based on the input from everybody because it's very important to them how a decision affects the entire team. Harmony being the keyword there.
And finally we have the “C-style” or Conscientious communicators. These are the people who want to have the agenda in advance. Why? So they can think about what they're going to say. These are the kind of people who have to get their head around the whole problem, analyze it completely before they’re comfortable giving their opinion. Like the D, S, and C styles, they also want to have the agenda in advance, but for a very different reason.
I’m Dan, thanks for listening.
